360 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 5,1887. 
fout the position of the roots is the main point here. To make the 
plant firm in the pot, a potting stick is necessary. This simply 
^consists of a stick about 15 inches Ion?, and an inch or so in thick¬ 
ness. With this the operator must ram the soil into the pot all 
round, until it is as firm as a rock. If we intend to be successful 
this must be strictly attended to. No beginner ever does pot his 
plants firmly enough. Anyone who visits a nursery should ask to 
be shown through the potting shed, and if there is any work going 
on there he will be surprised to see how firmly the plants are potted 
—at least, I was. The potting of all kinds of Roses will require to 
Jbe carried out in the manner just described. 
Now we return again to a plant freshly potted from the open 
ground. Fig. 63 at g shows such a one. All this requires the first 
season is to be cut back to the mark x. If a cold frame be avail¬ 
able it can be placed therein when potted, and may be pruned as 
.soon as the buds begin to swell. No liquid manure of any kind 
.should be administered during the first season. After blooming, as 
soon as the weather is mild enough, the plant may be plunged 
outside in any convenient place where it will get air and sun. Most 
Hybrid Perpetuals treated in this way will give another crop of 
flowers in the autumn, but if we wish to make the most of our 
jp’ant, these should be pinched off directly they appear, while they 
are small buds, as it is not good policy to exhaust the plant by over¬ 
blooming before it is established in the pot. If we wish the plant 
-to grow larger, we should examine the roots occasionally, by turning 
it upside down, loosening the pot by tapping the rim on the edge of 
the bench, and while one hand holds the plant, the pot may be care¬ 
fully lifted off with the other. As soon as we find that the roots 
have filled the pot, we must give the plant a shift into a larger pot. 
If a small grower, a pot one size larger will be sufficient, but if the 
plant is a vigorous grower, and likely to make a quantity of wood 
and roots quickly, then it may have a pot two sizes larger. The 
pot must be drained as before advised, and when the old drainage 
has been removed from the roots the plant should be placed in the 
new pot, sufficient soil having been added beforehand to allow the 
plant to occupy a similar position to what it did in the old pot. In 
small shifts the potting stick before mentioned will have to be much 
thinner, and in ramming down the soil all round, great care must be 
.taken not to break the roots, which are always most numerous round 
the sides of the pot. The new soil must be made as firm as the old ; 
otherwise, when the plant is watered, the water will make its way 
down the inside of the pot, while the interior soil in the centre of 
the ball may remain quite dry. If we do not wish our plants to 
grow larger each year, as soon as we get them into fair-sized pots 
we must be careful not to repot them oftener than is necessary, and 
when we do it, to avoid large shifs. Even when we follow these 
rules, our plants will in time get too large for us—except we have 
spacious conservatories for their accommodation—and then the only 
plan is to shake out the roots and replace them into smaller pots, as 
at first. 
Fig. G4 at h shows the plant the second season after potting, and 
I have marked the shoots for pruning. If three buds be left on 
•each shoot here, and they w ere all to grow, a very bushy plant would 
be the result. But as a rule two shoots will generally take the lead, 
and in many cases only one, and then it is advisable to remove the 
weaker shoot or shoots as soon as we see that they are not going to 
develope. The shoots can best be got to grow by tying them down, 
but in the case of a plant like the one in fig. 64 it would not be 
necessary, I should say possible, to do this. In after years, when 
.the growths will be thinner, it might be advisable, and so I may say 
here that it is best done by fastening a piece of strong wire round 
the rim of the pot, and attaching thereto pieces of raffia, the other 
ends of which are fastened to the shoots. Great care must be 
exercised in bending the branches down, otherwise the shoots will 
break. When the beginner has broken off a few—which will 
happen very soon after he commences the work, in most cases he 
will know how to do it perfectly. Where it is proposed to bend the 
branches down they would require to be left longer in pruning. 
When the buds are fairly started the shoots may be released, and as 
each little branch developes, it will require to be tied up to a small 
stick prepared for the purpose. These sticks should be of such a 
length that when the plant is in bloom the flowers will stand up 
weil above them, and if they are placed permanently in their places 
while the branches are still small, the leaves will grow round them 
in such a way as to almost conceal them altogether. Plants can 
never be made to look so well, if the sticks are only placed in 
position at the last moment. 
Disbudding is a great assistance in growing Roses in pots- All 
the weak buds, and those pointing inwards, except it is possible to 
rrain these latter to the outside at some future time, should be 
temoved. If three buds on each shoot could be got to grow and 
develope on the plant in fig. 64 at h —and I do not think this would 
be anything uncommon if the plant were an old-established one— 
there would be eighteen shoots, and there are varieties which in this 
case would give us a bloom on the tip of each shoot. This, in my 
opinion, would be too many to allow on the plant, so I s ^ ou “* 
remove about half a dozen as soon as they became visible, and the 
remaining blooms would be all the finer in consequence. I do not 
wish my readers to think that all the Roses recommended for pot 
culture will give the number of blooms, nor even the number of 
shoots, I have mentioned here, but there are some that do, and 
whether we get three, or three dozen, the treatment, speakmg 
generally, should be the same. In all cases the state of the plant, 
and the treatment, will have something to do with the number of 
shoots—the stronger the plant, the greater the number. Directly 
after the plants have bloomed they should be repotted, provided 
they are pot-bound—that is to say, if the pots are quite full of 
roots. After this operation is completed they should be kept close 
in a house and syringed, with the object of keeping their leaves on, 
which will enable them to make new roots at once. 
Anyone who grows Roses well in the open ground should be 
able to do them equally well in pots w'ith a little care and attention. 
In working with pot plants, we must remember that the whole of 
the roots are contained in the pots ; they are entirely under our 
control, and are bound to get all we give them. A dose of strong 
stimulants or liquid manure of such a strength as would do no 
injury to a plant in the open ground might be enough to kill a plant 
in a pot immediately. The same remark applies to watering. In 
the open ground any excess of water gets away by means of the 
drainage, but a pot plant is in a very different position, and may, 
by a little carelessness or ignorance, be very easily kept in a 
constant state of puddle, which, it is needless to say, is very 
detrimental. 
So far, I have spoken only of the Hybrid Perpetuals. I shall 
refer to the Tea Roses, which answer capitally when grown as pot 
plants, in another place. As the Hybrid Perpetuals can be grown 
with so much less trouble and attention, planted out in the open 
ground, than if they are treated as pot plants, it is to be presumed 
that those who grow them in this latter way, intend to keep them, 
or at any rate to bloom them, under glass. I am of opinion that 
where one has facilities for growingRoses in the open, and also in a 
greenhouse, the plan which would give the best results would be to 
devote the house entirely to Tea Roses — in pots, or planted in 
borders—and to depend on the garden alone for a supply of blooms 
from the H.P.’s. But many people may not be of, this opinion; 
they may prefer the more decided colours of the H.P.’s as compared 
with the more delicate and paler hues of the Tea Roses. These 
will find some further remarks on this part of the subject under 
the head of “ Forcing.” 
List of Hybrid Perpetuals Suitable for Tot Culture. 
Alfred Co'omb. 
Baroness Rothschild. 
Beauty of Waltham. 
Boule <le Neige. 
Capt. CIrisly. 
Catherine Soupert. 
Chas Lefevre. 
Dr. Andry. 
Dupuy Jamain. 
E i. Merren. 
Heinrich Schu’.thtis. 
John Hopper. 
La France. 
Madm. Or. Luizet. 
Madtn. Lacharme. 
Madm V. Yerdier. 
Marie Baumann. 
Marie Rady. 
Marquise de Castellane 
Merveille de Lyon. 
Senateur Vaisse. 
Violette Bowyer. 
Souvenir de la Malmaison (B). 
—D. Gilmour, jun. 
(To be continued ) 
